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NSU NEWS UPDATE – May 4, 2020

Welcome to the NSU News Update - providing information on events happening on campus or involving NSU students, staff and faculty. 

To submit a news item, send it via email to NSUNews@northern.edu by 5 p.m. Thursday of the week before the announcement should run.

Check COVID-19 Webpages for Updates

For up-to-date information on the COVID-19 virus, as well as resources and information on Northern’s transition to online learning, please visit the NSU COVID-19 Resource Page or NSU COVID-19 Continuity Page.

Virtual Campus Town Hall

All NSU faculty and staff are encouraged to join President Downs and NSU Senior Cabinet for a virtual town hall meeting. The Zoom session will take place 9-11 a.m. Tuesday, May 5. Join at this Zoom URL. (Password: 055788; meeting ID: 931 0923 5611; phone number: 1-312-626-6799.) Please submit your questions or comments beforehand here. At Tuesday’s session, President Downs and Senior Cabinet will field any questions, from enrollment to budgets. Please keep in mind, however, that with the fluidity of the current situation, they may not have all the facts at their immediate disposal. Cabinet has been meeting frequently to discuss contingency planning for the summer, fall and beyond. President Downs is also in regular contact with the other Board of Regents presidents and BOR Administration.

NSU Spring Commencement

Northern State University will commemorate its 260 spring 2020 graduates on Saturday, May 9. Though the university will not hold a traditional graduation ceremony, Northern will post a short video to Facebook and Twitter at 10:30 a.m. CST, which will address commencement and confer degrees. The spring commencement program can be viewed here. Spring graduates will also have additional chances to be honored later this year: during fall 2020 homecoming, Sept. 21-26; and Northern’s winter commencement ceremony on Dec. 12.

NSU Intramurals Workout Video

NSU Intramurals is creating a four-week recreation home workout program for students! Find the first video here.

Campus Hours 

Campus is closed to the public and most buildings are locked.

Student Center:

  • Open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and is closed on weekends.

Post Office:

  • May 4-15: 9-11:30 a.m.

Wolf Shoppe:

  • Closed until further notice to in-store traffic; website available 
  • Web orders processed daily.
  • Freight accepted daily from carriers and routed to post office or campus truck for delivery.

Johnson Fine Arts Center:

  • Open 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Dining Services:

  • The POD Market will be open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, offering to-go comfort meals and its usual for-sale items.
  • All meals will be served in the POD Market.
  • Weekend service is not provided at this time.
  • Papa John’s, Einstein's Bagels and the Wolves' Den are closed.

NSU Counseling Update

While Northern has moved to online learning due to the COVID-19 virus, the NSU Counseling Center is still available for virtual consultations and/or sessions with students. The sessions and consultations are available via phone or via a HIPAA-compliant Zoom videoconferencing platform. For more information, please call 605-626-2371. Also, for tips and updates, follow the NSU Counseling Center on Facebook.

Request Materials from the Library

You can now request physical materials from the Williams Library. If you are unable to locate an electronic version of an item you need, you can request the physical item to be pulled from the library’s collection. The item must be something the library owns, and NO interlibrary loans will be requested for physical materials. To request an item, email the title, author, your name and your mailing address to the library at reference@northern.edu. The librarians will pull items on Tuesdays and Thursdays, check them out to you, and mail to the address you provided in the email. To return the items, simply mail all items back with the return address label provided in the package.

Faculty Connect D2L

The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning is excited to support NSU faculty through the Faculty Connect D2L course sandbox. Faculty Connect is a D2L sandbox shell dedicated to providing a place where NSU faculty can engage in collegial conversations, share resources and provide/receive support as they navigate the new semester situation of teaching remotely in the online medium. You can find the sandbox by searching for “Faculty Connect” under “View all Courses” on your D2L homepage, or in the nine-square waffle at the top center of your D2L screen.

Counseling Program Zoom Discussions

During this time of uncertainty and transition, the NSU Counseling Program plans to host discussions in the coming weeks to help us support each other and our students through the remainder of the semester. Specific topics will be announced at a later time and will rotate by the week. Please join one of our Thursday 11 a.m. sessions via this link.

Online Tutoring Sessions Available

With Northern’s transition to online learning due to the COVID-19 virus, the NSU Tutoring Center is now offering online tutoring sessions for NSU students. Tutoring is available to any Northern student free of charge for all general education classes and most upper-level classes. The sessions are conducted through Zoom videoconferencing, which allows real-time interaction between students and tutors. For more information or to set up an online tutoring session, students can email nsututoringcenter@northern.edu

Career Services Update

Career Services staff are working remotely during this time. Staff are connecting with students using Zoom or phone for appointments, or via email for general questions. Students can either schedule an appointment by accessing their Wolf Work account, or by emailing careerservices@northern.edu or britt.lorenz@northern.edu.

Recycling Program Suspended

The recycling program on campus has been suspended until further notice to protect the health of the workers who rinse the bottles.

Password Expiration Reminders

NSU Net Services is implementing password expiration reminders. Beginning four days prior to your password expiration date (which happens every six months), you will receive a daily email with instructions on how to change your password. You must be registered with Northern’s self-service password reset service in order to reset your password without contacting the Support Desk. If you are not registered, and your password expires after Support Desk hours, you may lose access to many services including D2L, Banner, Zoom, Microsoft O365, Library databases and campus WiFi until the next business day. If you have not registered for the self-service password reset service, please visit the Password Reset Page and select the Register or Change Info option.

Upcoming Wolves Events

Stay up to date with NSU Wolves news on the athletics webpage.